Archive for month: March, 2018

How much you pay your employees is one of the primary factors affecting your company’s ability to attract and retain top talent. It’s critical to create an employee pay scale that not only helps your workforce management and recruitment efforts, but also controls your costs.

Too high a scale makes it expensive to hire and train new employees, while setting the scale too low makes it hard to convince employees to consider your job offers. So, how exactly do you find the right pay scale for your company’s situation?

Evaluate the Position’s Value

Before anything else, make sure your job descriptions are accurate and complete. You can compare them with other postings for similar positions, taking note of comparable responsibilities, qualifications and skills.

Once you’ve established the demands of the position, you can then assess the value it provides to your company, the level of certifications and experience the position needs and the time needed if you were to do the job yourself (if at all possible). Evaluating the value of the position in this manner lets you understand how it will benefit your company, making it easier to identify ideal employees and how to compensate them.

Look Up Comparable Wages

The basic way to come up with an appropriate salary scale is to research the median pay for a given position. This gives you a ballpark figure a potential candidate will expect to receive. Researching the median wage also allows you to determine whether you can sustain the salary of the role you’re seeking to hire, all while gathering critical insight on how qualifications, experience and education affect salary.

Fortunately, online resources like Payscale and Glass Door make it easier than ever to look up what other employers are paying a given position.

Define Your Minimum and Maximum Limits

Once you’ve assessed the value of a position you’re hiring for and its median wage, the next step is to determine your maximum and minimum limits.

Remember: as much as you want to offer a competitive salary package, you should also consider whether or not the number you have in mind is sustainable for your business. Figure out the minimum amount you would prefer to offer to a candidate but leave enough wiggle room to be able to offer a max limit, which makes you a more-attractive employer to job seekers.

Decide on Payment Methods

Aside from addressing whether an employee will be paid hourly, bi-weekly or monthly, deciding on your payment methods also answers the question of how to reward workers beyond their take-home pay. If you can find creative ways to provide incentives to employees, you can stick closer to your minimum payment figure. Common examples of incentives include health insurance, subsidized gym memberships, commission and paid vacation.

For more workforce management tips on salary and compensation, the staffing services experts of are happy to be of assistance. Contact us today to learn more about our recruitment solutions.

In today’s competitive business landscape, companies need to be agile and quick to act when hiring and onboarding employees, whether it is to keep up with customer demand, peak production or sales periods. There’s no denying that recruiting, hiring, training and onboarding staff takes a lot of time and resources.

“The sheer effort required to recruit and onboard employees can quickly eat up the majority of your HR department’s time,” said Julie Domokos, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at The Reserves Network.

Outsourcing these requirements to a staffing agency is a common solution used by many companies. But instead of working with any staffing firm, consider choosing an on-site one instead. Here are a few reasons why.

An On-Site Staffing Agency Operates in Your Offices

Having a staffing agency operating on-site means that your potential candidates can actually see what it’s like to be in the workplace. IAs an applicant, you don’t want to accept a job offer without first seeing what the working environment is like.

Unlike off-site staffing firms that screen and interview candidates in their headquarters before sending them to their assignment, on-site staffing agencies are usually given dedicated space inside the client’s offices where they can recruit, screen, train and onboard candidates. This ensures that candidate can become familiar with the working environment as they go through the recruitment process.

Closer Interaction Means Better Placements

An on-site staffing team has an easier time understanding the intricacies of the company and demands of the positions that need to be filled. An on-site staffing agency has daily interactions with supervisors, team leaders and regular employees. In turn, this helps them develop a better understanding of their client’s needs and find the best candidates for the job.

You Form a Closer Relationship with the Staffing Agency

Being quick to take action is key when adapting to labor situations that happen in real time. On-site staffing agencies work hand-in-hand with HR and upper management to respond to issues when they arise and come up with viable solutions.

Before you choose a staffing agency, consider working with one like The Reserves Network that offers on-site services. To learn more, talk to the staffing services experts of The Reserves Network. Schedule a consultation with our team to learn more about how our recruitment solutions can help you.

https://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.png00adminhttps://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.pngadmin2018-03-21 09:30:002018-04-05 14:33:413 Reasons to Work with an On-Site Staffing Agency

Optimizing your resume with keywords relevant to your skills and experience makes it easier for hiring managers to find, analyze and categorize your profile and how you may fit in with a role. More importantly, resume keywords are essential for applicant tracking systems (ATS)—software systems that scan through hundreds of resumes, automatically detecting keywords and sorting resumes according to relevance to a role, qualification and/or credential.

And that’s exactly what keywords are.

“Keywords are essentially the skills, expertise, credentials, and qualifications that every hiring manager looks for in a potential candidate,” said John Bengal, Vice President of Strategic Business Expansion at The Reserves Network.

By integrating keywords in your resume and even your cover letter, both the hiring manager and the ATS can quickly see whether or not you match the requirements of an open position.

So, how exactly do you know which keywords to use?

Be Specific

Choose keywords that are closely related to the position you’re applying for. For example, if the position is for a digital marketing manager, include relevant keywords like search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, copywriting, press release writing, public relations and social media marketing. These keywords and phrases are the core competencies of any digital marketing professional.

Do NOT Use a Keyword That’s Not Actually Your Skill

Don’t embed keywords in your resume just for the sake of doing so. Even if an ATS were to see your resume as a suitable match, the ease of background and reference checking today means that the smallest embellishment can be verified. If you do this, don’t be surprised if your name gets blacklisted right away.

Include Soft Skills Too

Aside from your core competencies, don’t be afraid to mix things up by adding keywords related to your soft skills. These include communication, interpersonal, management, organizational and research skills. Although you might think that hiring managers only care about technical skills, these auxiliary keywords help you stand out as a well-rounded candidate.

Put Keywords Everywhere

Don’t Over-Optimize Your Resume

Embedding more keywords in your resume isn’t the trick to optimizing it for ATS software. Remember, your resume will also be read by real people, so you should only use keywords when appropriate. Make sure your keywords don’t affect the document’s readability.

Here’s the bottom line: keywords that are relevant to your skills, job experience and credentials help make your resume more relevant to the people and software that accept them. Exercise caution and use keywords only when it makes sense. For more resume writing tips and tricks, talk to the staffing services experts of The Reserves Network. Call our offices to learn more about our recruitment solutions.

https://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.png00adminhttps://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.pngadmin2018-03-15 14:38:522018-04-05 14:45:015 Pointers for Using Keywords in Your Resume

While everyone knows a resume is an integral component of the job search process, it is not the only critical document of which to be mindful. A strategically written and targeted cover letter can be a powerful job search tool, especially when trying to set yourself up for an interview. Here’s a closer look at why.

Make a Great First Impression

Your cover letter lets you reach out to a potential employer and the given position in a highly specific manner. It sets the tone for your application, while your resume follows up on this by delving into your skills, credentials and experience.

Your resume tends to be a more static document—very little changes about it, especially if you’re applying for similar positions across different employers. Your cover letter, on the other hand, should adapt to the specific company and role you’re applying for.

Answer the What and Why

Most people think that a cover letter is redundant and unnecessary because it supposedly only delivers a condensed version of whatever is in your resume.

But that isn’t what a cover letter should do. Instead, your cover letter must tell the hiring manager what specific factor(s) attracted you to the position and why. That way, you can offer potential employers a preview of your motivations, making it easier for hiring managers to gauge your value as a candidate.

You should also include the unique skill set and qualities that you think make you a suitable match for the job and organization.

Show Off Your Writing Chops

Creativity wise, there’s not much you can do when writing a resume. While it should read well, the formulas to effective resume writing usually involve short and clear descriptions, bulleted lists and proper formatting.

In contrast, a cover letter lets you cut loose and write more fluently. For positions that require strong communication skills, a cover letter is the perfect opportunity to show right from the get-go that you’re someone who knows how to string sentences together with proper grammar, diction and style.

Zero in on Your Strengths

A cover letter lets you hone in on your core strengths, skills and work experiences. It allows you to explain and highlight the most important parts of your resume, all while demonstrating your personality and potential to fit in with a company’s culture and principles.

Back Up Your Resume

If you feel that your resume isn’t as persuasive or marketable as you want it to be (which is often the case for first-time job seekers), a strong cover letter can make up for it. When done right, a cover letter can be compelling enough to trigger a callback from employers.

If you need further assistance on your job search, talk to the staffing services experts of The Reserves Network. Schedule a consultation with our team to learn more about how our recruitment solutions can help you.

https://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.png00adminhttps://trnstaffing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.pngadmin2018-03-07 14:45:032018-03-07 14:45:03In Defense of the Cover Letter – Why it’s Just as Important as Your Resume